Dear Femslash Exchange Writer (finished!)
Dear Femslash Exchange Writer,
I’m excited that you’ve offered to write at least one of these relationships with these female characters, so don’t worry too much, I’ll be happy to see what your muse will offer you. I list some Do Not Wants below, but other than that, feel free to do whatever your muse wants to do! The other things in this letter are just meant to help you along if you want a bit more from me. And I finally finished this. Sorry it took so long!
Things I particularly like: hurt/comfort, love growing out of friendship, enemies finding common ground and connection, character growth, women being awesome together, women supporting each other. I like fluff, I like angst, I like banter, emotional stuff, adventure, humour, worldbuilding/exploring the world of the canon, missing scenes, pre-canon, post-canon, what-if/canon divergence AUs…
Do Not Want: rape/non-con, gore and graphic violence, underage relationships, incest, death of requested characters, break-up of requested characters, strong horror, modern/mundane/werewolf/vampire/etc. AUs (basically the kind that fundamentally alter the world). Also please no racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and other discrimination/hatred based on such attributes (hopefully not very likely for participants of this exchange, anyway!). Second person rarely works for me, so I’d suggest avoiding that.
I've written various ideas, prompts, suggestions, and what I love about the characters and their relationships, but that doesn't mean you have to include all or any of them. They're just meant to help spark your imagination if you need that.
Requests
Wayfarers Series - Becky Chambers
Relationships:
Rosemary Harper/Sissix Seshkethet
Rosemary Harper/Sissix Seshkethet/Kizzy Shao
Gapei Tem Seri/Kizzy Shao
Sidra/Owl
Sidra/Taklen Bre Salae
Details: These books offer so many awesome female characters, and so many opportunities for connection and f/f relationships between them! Feel free to include any other characters from the books, I love them all.
Rosemary/Sissix was lovely and made me happy, I shipped them right from the start despite the fact that it was quite understated, and I would have loved to see much more with the two of them in the book. Daily slices of life, space awesomeness, adventure, sex life, delving into their different cultures and how that affects their relationship for both good and bad, different ideas for dates, how to use bureaucracy to flirt and save the world, more spacefaring in the Wayfarer… Whatever works! (Note: my Rare Pair Fest letter also has something on this pairing and this book.)
On the other hand, I love Kizzy as well, and would love to see her get more attention and f/f action. Maybe she could join in with Rosemary and Sissix, perhaps as they want to share something nice with their friend, or as Rosemary wants to become accustomed to polygamy, and they figure another human they know and trust would be the best to start with? Maybe they will just end up forming a three-way team of awesome space women?
Speaking of Kizzy, wasn’t she so flustered and smitten by how gorgeous and kick-ass Pei was? I would dearly love to see that explored and some kind of relationship between the two of them. I would especially love if it got down to some deeper emotional level and they were in some ways helping/rescuing each other emotionally or helping each other find their place in the world. As it was in canon where Pei helped Kizzy come to terms with her fear, while Kizzy saved Pei’s ship. And of course, any lighter and more adventurous fun between a kick-ass Aeluon woman and a kick-ass engineer would be great. Maybe Pei will get a spaceship of her own and hire Kizzy as her tech?
Moving onto the Sidra pairings... I loved the character and development of Sidra in A Closed and Common Orbit, and I very much loved the friendship and found family focus of the book, but I also wonder what she would be like in a romantic/sexual relationship. It would certainly be different for her than it is for humans - but Lovey could fall in love, so no reason why Sidra couldn't. I got fascinated by the two possible ideas. How would the relationship of two AIs work, with Sidra and Owl? Owl is such an adorable character, so caring and kind, and I would love to see her having another important relationship besides the mother-daughter kind of relationship she had with Pepper. Considering Owl isn't in a human body, and Sidra is in an artificial human body and, by the end of the book, several additional bodies as well, their relationship would certainly be something different from the usual, and I'm curious to see what!
On the other hand, I adored the friendship between Sidra and Tak, especially the way it developed from Tak's fear and prejudice to strong friendship when she got to know and understand Sidra. I kept shipping them throughout the book, as well, and would love to see what happened if they pursued a romantic or sexual relationship. Especially since they're both such geeks - I really love it when geekery connects two people! Obviously for this exchange, Tak will need to be in her female form, but references to her genderfluid nature are welcome.
It could be anything: say, an entertaining sexual adventure when Sidra decides to find out what this whole fuss with sex is all about, complete with endless research on Linkings, while Tak decides she is very happy to help her friend find out, and might be motivated by anything ranging from secret desire of Sidra to academic curiosity about artificial human bodies. Or perhaps slow growth of their intellectual connection and friendship to a confusing array of emotions that Sidra tries to make sense of. Or an experiment in dating, kissing or anything else that they might be curious about in the way of alien and AI intellectual ladies. Or whatever else you come up with!
Finishing School - Gail Carriger
Relationships:
Monique de Pelouse/Sophronia Temminnick
Dimity Plumleigh-Teignmott/Sophronia Temminnick
Ever since I finished reading this book series, I just wanted to ship Sophronia with either of those two. Her enmity with Monique is so passionate and personal, yet they start forming a mutual grudging respect towards each other by the end, that I would really want to see it explored what would happen if they also began to experience attraction/deeper feelings towards each other. I bet it would be raucous, delightful, fun and sexy. It would certainly be fine by me if their old enmity and scathing attitudes towards each other would still be present, yet they would be unable to resist the other feelings between them, too, and which could lead to more tenderness, glorious hate sex, or anything in between. It could be even more fun to raise stakes by having them on opposing sides of an intrigue - or forced to cooperate because they’re for once on the same side. But anything less plotty-sounding is fine by me, too.
Sophronia’s friendship with Dimity, on the other hand, is so sweet and powerful, they rely on each other and help each other so much, and I love it how strong their connection becomes despite their apparent differences, and how much fun and shiny it is. Secret schoolgirl romance? Shenanigans on missions? Applying their special courtship and etiquette skills on each other? So many opportunities!
I’m not keen on Sophronia/Soap (to be clear, it’s absolutely not because of his race or social position, but because of the romance tropes present in the pairing, especially in the last book where she finds him attractive because he is suddenly dangerous - I’m really, really uncomfortable with that). So if that pairing would be possible to not be in your story, that would be great. No Soap-bashing, though, I like him well enough, but just as her friend. Don’t want to bash anyone else’s preference, but it was the one thing about the books I didn’t like, so I would prefer to just see it not there, you know.
Doctor Who
Relationships:
Martha Jones/Rose Tyler (Doctor Who)
Mary/Toshiko Sato (Torchwood)
Bill Potts/The Doctor's TARDIS
Heather (Doctor Who: The Pilot)/Bill Potts
Thirteenth Doctor/Bill Potts
Thirteenth Doctor/Missy
Details:
Martha/Rose: I love both of them, especially Martha but also Rose, and it bugs me how the canon sets them up as rivals, though they could probably have a great time together and appreciate each other. Aaaaand I find both of them distractingly hot and the thought of them together also distractingly hot. So I'd love something where they get together. Maybe an AU where Rose doesn't go back to Pete's World after Journey's End, or some storyline where she returns later and meets up with Martha. Or even an alternate Martha that Rose meets in Pete's World. Awesome adventuring lady-duo, cuteness and fun, domestics, date night (which could be interesting as they'd probably have very different ideas about a date), comfort, hot sex, whatever inspires your muse!
Mary/Toshiko: I loved Greeks Bearing Gifts, despite some flaws, and while Mary was evil, I loved the effect she had on Tosh for a while, she seemed to come more appreciative of her own self, and questioning other people's judgements. So I'd love something that shows the positive of their relationship: maybe some good moment they had together, Mary's point of view to something which shows her as caring about Tosh, or an AU where Mary isn't evil, or changes and is redeemed.
For the Bill ships, first, a preliminary squee about Bill: I love Bill! She might be my favourite Companion ever! I wish the series had explored her character even more, and I definitely wish she could travel with the Doctor for the next three series or so. But anyway, how she was written and what Pearl Mackie did with her, I adored her, how curious, human, and relatable and real she was, all the funny stuff and very realistic reactions to all the stuff they encounter, and her great relationship with Twelve. I also adored the fact that she's lesbian without her character being all about that. She still seems to be closeted to her foster-mother, but otherwise her sexuality is just another thing about her.
Bill/Heather: I loved the relationship they had, both when Heather was still human and the fact that for once lesbian love saved the day, and I would love to see more of it explored. Maybe an AU where they spend more time together when at least one of them is still fully human; or maybe some of their adventures after the end of S10; or Heather helping Bill come to terms with everything that happened to her. I would also love to see more of Heather's past explored. She seemed sad and lonely in The Pilot, and lacking confidence both in herself and her feelings towards Bill, but in The Doctor Falls she had found confidence in both. Maybe tell something of her past or the journey she took in between those episodes? Also, it could be fun to have them meet some other Whoniverse character, since they can go anywhere.
Bill/TARDIS: I've been secretly shipping this ever since Bill declared herself in love after the TARDIS proved to have an impressive array of dresses along with everything else. And I'm fascinated by the idea of a sentient time-and-space-ship having an affair with one of her travellers. I loved the human TARDIS in The Doctor's Wife, so feel free to contrive a way for Bill to run into her - maybe she kept a back-up copy just in case? Or it can be without the TARDIS having a human body - she is telepathic, after all, and I'm sure there'll be ways to exchange romantic feelings and/or sexual vibes while one side of the relationship is a timeship? As another idea, when Bill becomes whatever-she-becomes through Heather saving her, perhaps she will also be able to communicate with the TARDIS in a different way than before. Or maybe an AU where the TARDIS saves Bill in The Doctor Falls. Many possibilities!
Moving on... I squeed so much when the Thirteenth Doctor was announced, and cried a bit, too, because it was so wonderful. Now, granted, we have very little to go on yet, but that leaves all the more room for creative speculation, right? Anyway, now that the Doctor will be female, and we just had this awesome openly lesbian Companion who made it clear to her Doctor that she only fancies women of her own age, and now the Doctor suddenly is a fairly young-looking woman, I find the potential so fascinating. (That is, one of the first things I said was, "Now I want to see Bill going 'OMG, now you're hot! Sorry I called you grandfather!'"). I'd also love to have Bill travel with the Doctor much longer, so it would be fascinating to see their relationship grow gradually. Though I'm also fine with something set immediately post-regeneration.
Finally, Thirteen/Missy... Doctor/Master is so obviously there, but I didn't feel shippy about it before I encountered Missy. Now that the Doctor is also in a female body, and will probably have changed again by this regeneration, not to mention by the events unfolding just before the regeneration, I would love to see something of their relationship. They might meet out of sequence, with Missy not yet aware of the events of S10 (or at least the end of it), or perhaps you'll write something where Missy hasn't died or the Doctor finds a way to save her. In the latter case, what will Missy be like? Not quite evil anymore, but I doubt transitioning to good will go easy for her, either. How will the Doctor's relationship to her have changed by the latest events? Mind you, I don't mean it has to be a deeply explorative character study; I'll also be happy with some crazy fun adventures, hilariously unlikely dates for two Time Ladies, sexy moments etc.
Parasol Protectorate - Gail Carriger
Relationship: Genevieve Lefoux/Alexia Tarabotti
Details: Sorry, I'm mostly just copying my Rare Pair Fest details, since that was recently enough that I don't have anything to add.
I admit, I’ve always been more into this ship than into the actual main romance for Alexia in the books. I always wished there would be more between them, though it was a lot of fun to watch Alexia skirt the border of awareness about being attracted to her crossdressing inventor friend. Anyway, these two continue to be one of my favourite interactions in the book series, and I’d love to see something where they’re together.
It can be a brief interlude or a long-term relationship, set during or after the series or whatever you prefer. And do with Lord Maccon whatever you like; he can continue being Alexia’s husband, or be whisked away for some not-too-terrible reason, or never have entered the picture at all. I shan’t be offended either way, as I like him but prefer this pairing. I would absolutely love if Madame Lefoux’s awesome mad steampunk inventions and Alexia’s smart dress sense had a place in the story.
These books have been one of my favourite fun-and-fluffy-yet-smart with strong women and LGBT rep books for the past years. I love that unlike most steampunk I can find, it's not incredibly violent and depressing, yet manages to be more subversive and rebellious than looks on the surface. Alexia and Madame Lefoux are among the most delightful characters in the books (okay, I do adore Biffy and Lyall and Akeldama like any sensible person would) and some of my favourite sf/f ladies. I love that while Alexia is all sorts of kick-ass, she still is a woman of her era and confined by many of the standards of the Victorian ages, because let's face it, we all are affected by the mores of the society we grow up in. And I would absolutely love to see Geneviève make her defy those standards even more than she does. There's this undercurrent of attraction Alexia feels towards her, and the very obvious attraction she feels towards Alexia, and while Alexia and Lord Maccon are my favourite of Gail's het pairings, I still ship these two more. Feel free to either ignore Lord Maccon, have Alexia break up with him (as long as it doesn't hurt him too badly, I do adore him in a way), have him never have entered her life, or have them enjoy a happy open relationship, however Alexia manages to convince him about it - everything is fine and nothing more preferable than the other.
I'm fine with setting this story any time during the Parasol Protectorate books or after them. One possibility is also setting it during The Custard Protocol or after Imprudence - how would an older Alexia and Geneviève romance after everything else they've been through?
The reason I didn't request from Romancing the Inventor is that I haven't read it yet - I do hope I can fit it into my next book order! But it may be that I won't have read it by the time the fics are revealed, so maybe just stick to the Parasol and Custard canons?
This entry was originally posted at http://auroracloud.dreamwidth.org/44730.html. Feel free to comment on either site.
I’m excited that you’ve offered to write at least one of these relationships with these female characters, so don’t worry too much, I’ll be happy to see what your muse will offer you. I list some Do Not Wants below, but other than that, feel free to do whatever your muse wants to do! The other things in this letter are just meant to help you along if you want a bit more from me. And I finally finished this. Sorry it took so long!
Things I particularly like: hurt/comfort, love growing out of friendship, enemies finding common ground and connection, character growth, women being awesome together, women supporting each other. I like fluff, I like angst, I like banter, emotional stuff, adventure, humour, worldbuilding/exploring the world of the canon, missing scenes, pre-canon, post-canon, what-if/canon divergence AUs…
Do Not Want: rape/non-con, gore and graphic violence, underage relationships, incest, death of requested characters, break-up of requested characters, strong horror, modern/mundane/werewolf/vampire/etc. AUs (basically the kind that fundamentally alter the world). Also please no racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and other discrimination/hatred based on such attributes (hopefully not very likely for participants of this exchange, anyway!). Second person rarely works for me, so I’d suggest avoiding that.
I've written various ideas, prompts, suggestions, and what I love about the characters and their relationships, but that doesn't mean you have to include all or any of them. They're just meant to help spark your imagination if you need that.
Requests
Wayfarers Series - Becky Chambers
Relationships:
Rosemary Harper/Sissix Seshkethet
Rosemary Harper/Sissix Seshkethet/Kizzy Shao
Gapei Tem Seri/Kizzy Shao
Sidra/Owl
Sidra/Taklen Bre Salae
Details: These books offer so many awesome female characters, and so many opportunities for connection and f/f relationships between them! Feel free to include any other characters from the books, I love them all.
Rosemary/Sissix was lovely and made me happy, I shipped them right from the start despite the fact that it was quite understated, and I would have loved to see much more with the two of them in the book. Daily slices of life, space awesomeness, adventure, sex life, delving into their different cultures and how that affects their relationship for both good and bad, different ideas for dates, how to use bureaucracy to flirt and save the world, more spacefaring in the Wayfarer… Whatever works! (Note: my Rare Pair Fest letter also has something on this pairing and this book.)
On the other hand, I love Kizzy as well, and would love to see her get more attention and f/f action. Maybe she could join in with Rosemary and Sissix, perhaps as they want to share something nice with their friend, or as Rosemary wants to become accustomed to polygamy, and they figure another human they know and trust would be the best to start with? Maybe they will just end up forming a three-way team of awesome space women?
Speaking of Kizzy, wasn’t she so flustered and smitten by how gorgeous and kick-ass Pei was? I would dearly love to see that explored and some kind of relationship between the two of them. I would especially love if it got down to some deeper emotional level and they were in some ways helping/rescuing each other emotionally or helping each other find their place in the world. As it was in canon where Pei helped Kizzy come to terms with her fear, while Kizzy saved Pei’s ship. And of course, any lighter and more adventurous fun between a kick-ass Aeluon woman and a kick-ass engineer would be great. Maybe Pei will get a spaceship of her own and hire Kizzy as her tech?
Moving onto the Sidra pairings... I loved the character and development of Sidra in A Closed and Common Orbit, and I very much loved the friendship and found family focus of the book, but I also wonder what she would be like in a romantic/sexual relationship. It would certainly be different for her than it is for humans - but Lovey could fall in love, so no reason why Sidra couldn't. I got fascinated by the two possible ideas. How would the relationship of two AIs work, with Sidra and Owl? Owl is such an adorable character, so caring and kind, and I would love to see her having another important relationship besides the mother-daughter kind of relationship she had with Pepper. Considering Owl isn't in a human body, and Sidra is in an artificial human body and, by the end of the book, several additional bodies as well, their relationship would certainly be something different from the usual, and I'm curious to see what!
On the other hand, I adored the friendship between Sidra and Tak, especially the way it developed from Tak's fear and prejudice to strong friendship when she got to know and understand Sidra. I kept shipping them throughout the book, as well, and would love to see what happened if they pursued a romantic or sexual relationship. Especially since they're both such geeks - I really love it when geekery connects two people! Obviously for this exchange, Tak will need to be in her female form, but references to her genderfluid nature are welcome.
It could be anything: say, an entertaining sexual adventure when Sidra decides to find out what this whole fuss with sex is all about, complete with endless research on Linkings, while Tak decides she is very happy to help her friend find out, and might be motivated by anything ranging from secret desire of Sidra to academic curiosity about artificial human bodies. Or perhaps slow growth of their intellectual connection and friendship to a confusing array of emotions that Sidra tries to make sense of. Or an experiment in dating, kissing or anything else that they might be curious about in the way of alien and AI intellectual ladies. Or whatever else you come up with!
Finishing School - Gail Carriger
Relationships:
Monique de Pelouse/Sophronia Temminnick
Dimity Plumleigh-Teignmott/Sophronia Temminnick
Ever since I finished reading this book series, I just wanted to ship Sophronia with either of those two. Her enmity with Monique is so passionate and personal, yet they start forming a mutual grudging respect towards each other by the end, that I would really want to see it explored what would happen if they also began to experience attraction/deeper feelings towards each other. I bet it would be raucous, delightful, fun and sexy. It would certainly be fine by me if their old enmity and scathing attitudes towards each other would still be present, yet they would be unable to resist the other feelings between them, too, and which could lead to more tenderness, glorious hate sex, or anything in between. It could be even more fun to raise stakes by having them on opposing sides of an intrigue - or forced to cooperate because they’re for once on the same side. But anything less plotty-sounding is fine by me, too.
Sophronia’s friendship with Dimity, on the other hand, is so sweet and powerful, they rely on each other and help each other so much, and I love it how strong their connection becomes despite their apparent differences, and how much fun and shiny it is. Secret schoolgirl romance? Shenanigans on missions? Applying their special courtship and etiquette skills on each other? So many opportunities!
I’m not keen on Sophronia/Soap (to be clear, it’s absolutely not because of his race or social position, but because of the romance tropes present in the pairing, especially in the last book where she finds him attractive because he is suddenly dangerous - I’m really, really uncomfortable with that). So if that pairing would be possible to not be in your story, that would be great. No Soap-bashing, though, I like him well enough, but just as her friend. Don’t want to bash anyone else’s preference, but it was the one thing about the books I didn’t like, so I would prefer to just see it not there, you know.
Doctor Who
Relationships:
Martha Jones/Rose Tyler (Doctor Who)
Mary/Toshiko Sato (Torchwood)
Bill Potts/The Doctor's TARDIS
Heather (Doctor Who: The Pilot)/Bill Potts
Thirteenth Doctor/Bill Potts
Thirteenth Doctor/Missy
Details:
Martha/Rose: I love both of them, especially Martha but also Rose, and it bugs me how the canon sets them up as rivals, though they could probably have a great time together and appreciate each other. Aaaaand I find both of them distractingly hot and the thought of them together also distractingly hot. So I'd love something where they get together. Maybe an AU where Rose doesn't go back to Pete's World after Journey's End, or some storyline where she returns later and meets up with Martha. Or even an alternate Martha that Rose meets in Pete's World. Awesome adventuring lady-duo, cuteness and fun, domestics, date night (which could be interesting as they'd probably have very different ideas about a date), comfort, hot sex, whatever inspires your muse!
Mary/Toshiko: I loved Greeks Bearing Gifts, despite some flaws, and while Mary was evil, I loved the effect she had on Tosh for a while, she seemed to come more appreciative of her own self, and questioning other people's judgements. So I'd love something that shows the positive of their relationship: maybe some good moment they had together, Mary's point of view to something which shows her as caring about Tosh, or an AU where Mary isn't evil, or changes and is redeemed.
For the Bill ships, first, a preliminary squee about Bill: I love Bill! She might be my favourite Companion ever! I wish the series had explored her character even more, and I definitely wish she could travel with the Doctor for the next three series or so. But anyway, how she was written and what Pearl Mackie did with her, I adored her, how curious, human, and relatable and real she was, all the funny stuff and very realistic reactions to all the stuff they encounter, and her great relationship with Twelve. I also adored the fact that she's lesbian without her character being all about that. She still seems to be closeted to her foster-mother, but otherwise her sexuality is just another thing about her.
Bill/Heather: I loved the relationship they had, both when Heather was still human and the fact that for once lesbian love saved the day, and I would love to see more of it explored. Maybe an AU where they spend more time together when at least one of them is still fully human; or maybe some of their adventures after the end of S10; or Heather helping Bill come to terms with everything that happened to her. I would also love to see more of Heather's past explored. She seemed sad and lonely in The Pilot, and lacking confidence both in herself and her feelings towards Bill, but in The Doctor Falls she had found confidence in both. Maybe tell something of her past or the journey she took in between those episodes? Also, it could be fun to have them meet some other Whoniverse character, since they can go anywhere.
Bill/TARDIS: I've been secretly shipping this ever since Bill declared herself in love after the TARDIS proved to have an impressive array of dresses along with everything else. And I'm fascinated by the idea of a sentient time-and-space-ship having an affair with one of her travellers. I loved the human TARDIS in The Doctor's Wife, so feel free to contrive a way for Bill to run into her - maybe she kept a back-up copy just in case? Or it can be without the TARDIS having a human body - she is telepathic, after all, and I'm sure there'll be ways to exchange romantic feelings and/or sexual vibes while one side of the relationship is a timeship? As another idea, when Bill becomes whatever-she-becomes through Heather saving her, perhaps she will also be able to communicate with the TARDIS in a different way than before. Or maybe an AU where the TARDIS saves Bill in The Doctor Falls. Many possibilities!
Moving on... I squeed so much when the Thirteenth Doctor was announced, and cried a bit, too, because it was so wonderful. Now, granted, we have very little to go on yet, but that leaves all the more room for creative speculation, right? Anyway, now that the Doctor will be female, and we just had this awesome openly lesbian Companion who made it clear to her Doctor that she only fancies women of her own age, and now the Doctor suddenly is a fairly young-looking woman, I find the potential so fascinating. (That is, one of the first things I said was, "Now I want to see Bill going 'OMG, now you're hot! Sorry I called you grandfather!'"). I'd also love to have Bill travel with the Doctor much longer, so it would be fascinating to see their relationship grow gradually. Though I'm also fine with something set immediately post-regeneration.
Finally, Thirteen/Missy... Doctor/Master is so obviously there, but I didn't feel shippy about it before I encountered Missy. Now that the Doctor is also in a female body, and will probably have changed again by this regeneration, not to mention by the events unfolding just before the regeneration, I would love to see something of their relationship. They might meet out of sequence, with Missy not yet aware of the events of S10 (or at least the end of it), or perhaps you'll write something where Missy hasn't died or the Doctor finds a way to save her. In the latter case, what will Missy be like? Not quite evil anymore, but I doubt transitioning to good will go easy for her, either. How will the Doctor's relationship to her have changed by the latest events? Mind you, I don't mean it has to be a deeply explorative character study; I'll also be happy with some crazy fun adventures, hilariously unlikely dates for two Time Ladies, sexy moments etc.
Parasol Protectorate - Gail Carriger
Relationship: Genevieve Lefoux/Alexia Tarabotti
Details: Sorry, I'm mostly just copying my Rare Pair Fest details, since that was recently enough that I don't have anything to add.
I admit, I’ve always been more into this ship than into the actual main romance for Alexia in the books. I always wished there would be more between them, though it was a lot of fun to watch Alexia skirt the border of awareness about being attracted to her crossdressing inventor friend. Anyway, these two continue to be one of my favourite interactions in the book series, and I’d love to see something where they’re together.
It can be a brief interlude or a long-term relationship, set during or after the series or whatever you prefer. And do with Lord Maccon whatever you like; he can continue being Alexia’s husband, or be whisked away for some not-too-terrible reason, or never have entered the picture at all. I shan’t be offended either way, as I like him but prefer this pairing. I would absolutely love if Madame Lefoux’s awesome mad steampunk inventions and Alexia’s smart dress sense had a place in the story.
These books have been one of my favourite fun-and-fluffy-yet-smart with strong women and LGBT rep books for the past years. I love that unlike most steampunk I can find, it's not incredibly violent and depressing, yet manages to be more subversive and rebellious than looks on the surface. Alexia and Madame Lefoux are among the most delightful characters in the books (okay, I do adore Biffy and Lyall and Akeldama like any sensible person would) and some of my favourite sf/f ladies. I love that while Alexia is all sorts of kick-ass, she still is a woman of her era and confined by many of the standards of the Victorian ages, because let's face it, we all are affected by the mores of the society we grow up in. And I would absolutely love to see Geneviève make her defy those standards even more than she does. There's this undercurrent of attraction Alexia feels towards her, and the very obvious attraction she feels towards Alexia, and while Alexia and Lord Maccon are my favourite of Gail's het pairings, I still ship these two more. Feel free to either ignore Lord Maccon, have Alexia break up with him (as long as it doesn't hurt him too badly, I do adore him in a way), have him never have entered her life, or have them enjoy a happy open relationship, however Alexia manages to convince him about it - everything is fine and nothing more preferable than the other.
I'm fine with setting this story any time during the Parasol Protectorate books or after them. One possibility is also setting it during The Custard Protocol or after Imprudence - how would an older Alexia and Geneviève romance after everything else they've been through?
The reason I didn't request from Romancing the Inventor is that I haven't read it yet - I do hope I can fit it into my next book order! But it may be that I won't have read it by the time the fics are revealed, so maybe just stick to the Parasol and Custard canons?
This entry was originally posted at http://auroracloud.dreamwidth.org/44730.html. Feel free to comment on either site.